Rotary engines with rotating distributors



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Dec. 21, 1965 PERAS 3,224,421 I ROTARY ENGINES WITH ROTATINGDISTRIBUTORS Filed June 22, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Patented Dec. 21, 19653,224,421 ROTARY ENGINES WITH ROTATING DISTUTORS Lucien Peras,Billancourt, France, assignor to Regie Nationale des Usines Renault,Billancourt, Seine, France Filed June 22, 1962, Ser. No. 204,522

Claims priority, application France, June 29, 1961,

866,503, Patent 1,301,866; June 30, 1961, 866,686,

Patent 1,301,878

6 Claims. (Cl. 123-8) The present invention relates to a rotary enginewith a rotor having an epicycloidal profile with N lobes and a statorhaving N-I-l lobes.

Engines of this type comprise N +1 working chambers formed by the lobesof the stator; they each possess a combustion chamber which is generallylocated in the centre of the working chamber.

In this type of engine, the distribution, that is to say the supply offuel gas and the exhaust of the burnt gases, is effected by valvesoperated by sets of cams.

The invention contemplates a new arrangement, according to which thedistribution is eifected by means of a rotating distributor fixed to therotor and being provided with appropriate ports.

According to the preferred form of embodiment, the rotor is providedwith one or two circular lateral plates extending beyond the peripheryof the epicycloid of the rotor and coaxial with the rotor, so that theyrotate at the same speed and with the same eccentricity as the rotorwith respect to the stator.

Thus, the working chambers are defined by:

(1) The epicycloidal profile of the rotor;

(2) The two lateral plates forming the object of the invention;

(3) The conjugate profile of the stator.

These side plates permit of the synchronized supply to the workingchambers of the stator of the fuel mixture produced from one or a numberof carburettors or of any injection system, and arriving through lateralconduits located in the casings, and permitting also of the evacuationof the burnt gases by other lateral or radial conduits placed in thecasings.

To this end, the side plates are pierced with admission and exhaustports externally to the profile of the rotor, the said ports forming acommunication between the supply conduits or the exhaust conduits withthe working chambers or combustion chambers.

When two side plates are provided, the admission ports are placed in oneof them and the exhaust ports are located in the opposite side plate,which permits a scavenging action of the gases to be obtained. In theform of construction with a single side plate, the latter comprisessimultaneously the admission and exhaust ports.

An important advantage of the present invention resides in that it isthen possible to arrange the lateral fiuidtight segments simultaneouslyin the rotating side plates and in the fixed casings into which theconduits open, and thus obtain a more effective fluid-tightness.

In the first place, it is thus possible to place on the stator a radialsegmentation and a lateral segmentation of substantially epicycloidalshape, constituted by one or a number of superposed tracks of arcuatesegments supported on the radial segments.

In addition, removable segments can be placed at the periphery of therotating side plates and a second set of movable segments close to thecentre of these side plates.

According to a particular form of construction, the distributor isconstituted by a single side plate rotating at the same speed as therotor, but which instead of being carried eccentrically like the rotoron the crank-shaft, is

mounted axially on a beariig of the crank-shaft, the drive beingeffected through a mechanical coupling by eccentrics from the rotor.

The invention will now be described in more detail, reference being madeby way of example to the forms of embodiment shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in longitudinal section of a rotary engine according tothe invention.

FIGURE 1A is an interior view, partially in section, of the frontcasing;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the front along the line II--II of FIG. 1 withthe side plate removed, showing the rotor, the stator and the fixedsegments, the working and combustion chambers;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the front rotating plate and showing theadmission ports;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the rear rotating plate with its exhaustports;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the front casing with its radial admissionpassages;

FIG. 6 is a front view of an alternative form of construction, in whicha rotating side plate is provided at the same time with admission portsand exhaust ports;

FIG. 7 is a partial section of a further alternative form, in which therotating front plate is provided at the same time with admission portsand exhaust ports;

FIG. 8 is a partial section of an alternative form in which the rotatingside plates are discs of small thickness, Without cooling and coupled tothe rotor;

FIGS. 9 to 14 represent diagrammatically different relative positions ofthe rotor and the stator during operation;

FIG. 15 is a new form of construction of the side plates;

FIG. 16 is a longitudinal section of the rotary engine according to theinvention;

FIG. 17 is a cross-section along the line II-II, showing the rotor, thestator, the drive of the rotating distributor, and on which has beenshown the shape of the supply and exhaust ports together with theirperipheral position with respect to the rotor and their relativepositions;

FIGS. 18 to 27 show various relative positions of the rotor, stator anddistributor during a cycle of operation.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown at 1 the rotor, at 2 the centralannular portion of the stator, at 3 and 4 the lateral casings of thestator, at 5 and 6 the rotating side plates rigidly fixed to the rotor,and at 7 a front casing. Plates 5 and 6' are attached to side plates 5and 6 and are wear plates. The plates 6' and 5' could also betemperature compensation plates if desired.

The rotor 1 has an epicycloidal profile and rotates eccentrically in thestator 2, in which are formed work chambers such as 8. These chamberseach comprise a combustion chamber 9 extending over the whole width ofthe stator. A sparking plug housed in a central hollowed out portion ofthe stator is mounted in the centre of each combustion chamber. Thisarrangement facilitates the thermal symmetry of the rotor and thestator. The two rotating side plates 5 and 6 are fixed to the rotor byany appropriate means and rotate eccentrically in the circular cavities10 and 11 formed in the stator, which cavities extend peripherallybeyond the work chambers such as 8.

The rotor 1 in two portions (the hub 12 and the body 13) is mounted by abearing bush 14 on the eccentric part 15 of the crank-shaft 16, whichhas two bearing surfaces 17 and 18 rotating in journal bearings 19 and20 housed in the casings 3 and 7.

At each extremity of the crank-shaft are mounted on the one hand a fiy-wheel 21 carrying an eccentric weight 2, and on the other hand thefront casing 7 which constitutes a mixer 23 carrying radial conduits 24and an eccentric weight 25 housed between two conduits 24. A pinion 26and a ring 27 drive the auxiliary members of the engine.

An admission conduit 28 and a circular volute 29 permit of access to theradial tubes 24. Exhaust conduits 30 formed in the casing 3 lead to thecollector (not shown). The fixed casings are cooled by water circulatingin cavities such as 31, 32 etc.

The rotor is cooled by oil circulation arriving at A, passing out at B,and following the circuit C in chain-dotted lines. The oil circulates incavities 33 of the rotor and passes into the rotating end-plates and 6,which have cavities such as 34-and 35.

Fluid tightness to gas and water is effected by means of the fixedradial segments such as 36; the fixed lateral segments such as 37 and38, and by the rotating segments such as 39 and 40.

The admission ports 41 and 42, formed in the rotating plate 6 areadapted to deliver into the work chambers such as 8 at one extremity 43,and re-close the admission by the other extremity 44.

The shape of these ports is not symmetrical, and the section of the portincreases from the beginning of the admission and then re-closesabruptly so as to facilitate a good filling intake through largesections of passage (see FIG. 3).

The exhaust ports 45 and 46 formed in the rotating plate 5 have on theother hand a section which increases rapidly and then decreases slowly,starting from the beginning of the exhaust period to the end (see FIG.4).

Through the casing 4, the rotating admission conduits 24 communicatewith the ports 41 and 42' by means of circular openings 47 which areextended as far as possible, leaving between them only the arms 48 whichcan be given a wing profile so as to improve the circulation of thegases (see FIG. 5)

In the'alternative' formshown in FIG. 8', the end-plates 49 and 50 areof small thickness and are not provided with cooling cavities. Theseplates are fixed to the rotor 1 by any appropriate means. They areprovided with admission and exhaust ports such as those previouslydescribed, 41, 42, 45, 46. Two fixed lines of'segments on each side ofthe end-plates provide the necessary fiuid tightness.

These lines such as 51, 52, 53' and 54 are arranged following'a circularare as shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 6, the admission and exhaust ports may be carried bythe same end-plate.

In the alternative form shown in FIG. 7, the front plate 55 carrieslateral admission ports 56 and radial exhaust ports 57. The end-plate iscooled with oil by the cavities 58 which communicate with those of therotor 1.

The opposite end-plate 59 is of small thickness and is not provided withadmission or exhaust ports, and serves only for fluid-tightsealing bymeans of the lines of segments such as those of FIG. 8.

FIGS. 9 to 14 describe the distribution of the gases in oneof the workchambers during a power cycle by means of admission and exhaust ports;these ports are provided either in the two end-plates, in which case thetwo plates are set one with respect to the other and with respect to thesummit of a lobe of the rotor, or, in the other alternative arrangement,the ports are grouped in pairs on the same end-plate and the setting ofthe ports is the same'as in the preceding arrangement.

In order to simplify the explanation, it has been assumed that the portsare on the same end-plate.

FIG. 9 corresponds to the top dead-centre at the beginning of admission,with a slight scavenging action on the burnt gases by communication ofthe two ports across the combustion chamber.

FIG. corresponds-to full admission. The admission ports, by theirconjoint movement of circumferential and radial rotation due to theeccentricity of the end-plate, come in front of the work chamber so asto permit the introduction of fresh gases through a large opening.

FIG. 11 corresponds to the end of admission and to the beginning ofcompression.

FIG. 12 corresponds to the end of compression, the lobe of the rotorcompletely fills the work chamber, except for the combustion chamber,and ignition takes place.

FIG. 13 corresponds to the beginning of the exhaust period.

FIG. 14 corresponds to full exhaust.

It can be seen that there are (N-l-l) complete cycles for a set of twoconjugate admission and exhaust ports, corresponding to N +1 workchambers, and thus 2(N +1) cycles for one revolution of the rotor whenthere are two sets of ports.

In the example considered, the stator has five work chambers and therotor has four lobes. In consequence, the number of cycles perrevolution of the rotor is 10 and the number of cycles per revolution ofthe crankshaft is 10/4 or 5/2, due to the fact that the crank-shaftrotates at four times the speed of the rotor. This corresponds to thedistribution of a conventional engine with five cylinders.

FIG. 15 shows a further form of construction of the lateral plates 6awhich are shaped so as to have an external profile conjugate with thatof the epicycloid of the rotor, in order that the housing of the casingsin which these end-plates move may follow the external profiles of theplates, which makes it possible to reduce the external dimensions of thecasings and eventually permits of the addition of a radial packing sealon the periphery of the end-plates.

Referring now to FIGS. 16 and 17, there is seen at 61 a rotor having anaxis 0, at 62 a stator, at 63 and 64 two lateral casings, at 65' therotating distributor, at 66 the crank-shaft with an axis 0 carrying aneccentric 67 on which rotates the rotor 61, the latter having for thatpurpose a bearing bush 68 mounted in the driving pinion 69. The statorhas N +1 combustion chambers 70 located in the centre of the workchambers 71 of variable volume, de-liniited between the conjugatecontours 71 of the stator and the epicycloid 72 of the rotor. One sparkplug 73 per chamber 70 is mounted in the centre of this latter and ishoused .in a hollowed out portion of the stator. The rotatingdistributor 65 has two admission ports 74 and 75 and two exhaust ports76 and 77. The admission ports communicate with a circular collector 78which receives the carburetted gases from one or a number ofcarburettors 79 connected by a conduit 80 to the collector 78. Theexhaust ports communicate with a circular exhaust collector 81.

The crank-shaft 67 is carried by bearings 82 and 83. On one extremity ofthe crank-shaft is mounted a flywheel 84 which can carry eccentricweights or balancing holes 85.

At the other extremity is mounted a rotating balancing member 86 alsocarrying eccentric weights 87 and balancing holes 88', together with adrive for the auxiliary parts of the engine by the pinions 89 and 89 anda dynamo pulley 90.

The casings are cooled by water circulation 91 and the rotor by oilcirculation 92-. The rotating distributor 65 is itself also cooled byoil circulation from the channels of the crank-shaft 93 through thebearing 83.

According to the invention, the distributor 65 which is mountedcoaxially on a bearing surface of the crank-shaft 66 is driven by adouble eccentric 94, constituted by a disc 95 and two wrist-pins 96 and97, the latter being placed in the centre of the disc 95. The disc 95and the wristpin 97 are housed in the distributor 65, and the wrist-pin96 is housed in the rotor 61. r

In FIG, 17, the centre of the disc 95 has been marked as A and thecentre of the housing of the wrist-pin 96 as A.

It can be seen that 00 AA form a parallelogram which is deformableduring the respective rotation of the rotor 61 and the distributor 65,and that 00 remains parallel to AA which permits the distributor torotate at the same speed as the rotor, with a maximum relative radialdisplacement equal to twice the distance between centres O0 Threeeccentrics have been provided located at 120 so as to produce acontinuous drive of the distributor by the rotor.

Tightness against gas and oil is ensured by the fixed radial segments 98and by a chain of fixed segments 99 arranged on a circular arc 99associated with the segment 98.

On the other hand, the distributor 65 carries two rotating circularsegments 100 and 101, and the front casing 64 carries a fixed circularsegment 102.

FIGS. 18 to 27 show different positions of the rotor, the stator and thedistributor for a complete cycle and one work chamber 71.

FIG. 18 relates to the beginning of the admission period, an admissionport admits the fresh gases into the chamber 71.

The external shape of this port corresponds with the top of thecombustion chamber 70, while the internal shape with a double curvatureis determined in order to follow the external contour of the fixed Workchamber 71, so as to permit rapid inlet of the gases.

FIG. 19 represents the admission time.

FIG. 20 represents the end of admission in the chamber 71.

FIG. 21 represents the beginning of compression.

FIG. 22 shows the end of the compression period.

FIG. 23 illustrates the position at the instant of the explosion in thechamber 71. The spark plug of this cylinder produces the spark in thecombustion chamber.

FIG. 24 shows the position of the gas expansion.

FIG. 25 shows the position at the beginning of exhaust. The port 77moves over the contour of the work chamber 71 by its internal contour.

FIG. 26 represents the position of exhaust.

FIG. 27 shows the position at the end of the exhaust period.

The complete cycle is effected for one half revolution of the rotor; asthere are (N +1) chambers, there are thus N +1 cycles per halfrevolution of the rotor, and 2(N +1) cycles per revolution of the rotor.

In the example considered, there are five chambers; there are thus tencycles per revolution of the rotor and of the end-plate. As thecrank-shaft rotates at four times the speed of the rotor, there are /4or 2.5 cycles per revolution of the crank-shaft, which corresponds tofive cycles for two revolutions of a conventional engine with fivecylinders. The order of firing is 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, the work chambers beingnumbered in the direction of rotation of the crank-shaft.

I claim:

1. In a rotary engine comprising a stator having a peripheral wall withN +1 lobes disposed about an axis, and easing on the axial sides of saidperipheral wall, said stator forming a working chamber, an epicycloidalrotor with N lobes, a shaft rotatably mounted in said casing along saidstator axis, an eccentric fixed to said shaft and carrying said rotorfor rotation relative to said shaft and said eccentric, combustionchambers at the radially outermost portion of each of said stator lobes,a mounting means, a distributor means consisting of not more than oneside-plate fixedly mounted on at least one of the lateral faces of saidrotor and rotating with the latter at the same speed, individualconduits to each of said combustion chambers located in the casings for,respectively, the admission into said chambers of combustible gases andthe removal from said chambers of exhaust gases, said distributor meansbeing arranged intermediate said conduits and their respectivecombustion chambers and provided with ports passing in front of saidcombustion chambers and cyclically connecting the latter with theappropriate conduit.

2. A rotary engine in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that therotor comprises a side-plate on each of its sides, one of the saidside-plates being provided with ports co-operating with the supplyconduits, the other said side-plate co-operating with the exhaustconduits.

3. A rotary engine in accordance with claim 1 wherein the stator isprovided with radial fluid-tightness segments and with lateral sealingsegments arranged in circular arcs around the lobes of the stator andsupported by the radial segments, the fixed or moving lateral segmentsbeing also provided at the internal and external peripheries of theside-plates.

4. A rotary engine in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that amixer for the supply gases is provided in front of one of the saidcasings, the mixer comprising an admission conduit and a circularvolute.

5. A rotary engine according to claim 4, in which said side plates aresecured to the lateral faces of said rotor with one of said side platesbeing positioned between said rotor and said mixer.

6. A rotary engine according to claim 4, wherein said ports for theadmission of the combustible have sections increasing slowly in thedirection of rotation of said rotor and decreasing rapidly, their outerrims having substantially the same curvature as the lobes of said statorand coming substantially in correspondence with the contour of saidlobes when they permit full admission of combustible in said chambers,and wherein said ports for the removal of the exhausts have sectionsincreasing rapidly in the direction of rotation of said rotor anddecreasing slowly, their outer rims having substantially the samecurvature as the lobes of said stator and coming substantially incorrespondence with the contour of said lobes when they permit fullremoval of the exhausts from said chambers, the corresponding ports forthe admission in and the subsequent removal from a same chamber beinglaterally so positioned one with respect to another that the admissionof combustible in said chamber begins slightly before the end of theremoval of the exhausts whereby a slight scavening of the exhausts fromsaid chamber is obtained.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,459,637 6/1923Poyet 103130 2,138,490 11/1938 Haller 123-8 FOREIGN PATENTS 24,559 1908Great Britain. 496,342 11/1938 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Wanket et al.: Bauart und gegenwartigerEntwicklungsstand einer Trochoiden-Rotationskolbenmaschine In. MTZ21(2), pp. 3345, February 1960, TJ751M6.

SAMUEL LEVINE, Primary Examiner.

LAURENCE V. EFNER, KARL I. ALBRECHT,

Examiners.

1. IN A ROTARY ENGINE COMPRISING A STATOR HAVING A PERIPHERAL WALL WITHN+1 LOBES DISPOSED ABOUT AN AXIS, AND CASING ON THE AXIAL SIDES OF SAIDPERIPHERAL WALL, SAID STATOR FORMING A WORKING CHAMBER, AN EPICYCLOIDALROTOR WITH N LOBES, A SHAFT ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID CASING ALONG SAIDSTATOR AXIS, AN ECCENTRIC FIXED TO SAID SHAFT AND CARRYING SAID ROTORFOR ROTATION RELATIVE TO SAID SHAFT AND SAID ECCENTRIC, COMBUSTIONCHAMBERS AT THE RADIALLY OUTERMOST PORTION OF EACH OF SAID STATOR LOBES,A MOUNTING MEANS, A DISTRIBUTOR MEANS CONSISTING OF NOT MORE THAN ONESIDE-PLATE FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON AT LEAST ONE OF THE LATERAL FACES OF SAIDROTOR AND ROTATING WITH THE LATTER AT